Slipknot's masked ball is one wild ride

Thursday

Apr 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2009 at 2:08 AM

Slipknot wasn’t the first metal band to don stage makeup. But it’s hard to think of many other acts more defined by their appearance. The band headlines a show Tuesday at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

Phil Davidson

Slipknot wasn’t the first metal band to don stage makeup. But it’s hard to think of many other acts more defined by their appearance.

That’s not to say the members of Slipknot, who’ve adopted the numbers zero through eight as stage names, are a bunch of hacks obligated to wear their disturbing masks to sell tickets and albums.

Quite the contrary: The band’s music is a force so mind-bendingly heavy it could send even the sunniest of dispositions spiraling into despair.

For better or worse, however, mainstream America knows Slipknot as those crazy guys in the nightmarish masks scaring the bejesus out of suburban mothers everywhere.

The band headlines a show Tuesday at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

Slipknot percussionist Chris Fehn, also known as No. 3 in the Des Moines nine-piece group, said it was the lure of the “darker side of life” that initially drew him to metal.

“When I was a kid, obviously I wasn’t born into a metal family or anything,” he said during a recent phone interview. “It was kind of the unknown. It was just that sense that we really weren’t supposed to do it.”

Fehn, 37, grew up listening to thrash metal bands such as Exodus and Metallica, who weren’t exactly de rigueur in suburban Ankeny, Iowa.

“Iowa was a pretty religious place,” he said. “(Metal) gave me a place to belong with my friends and everything. Wearing a Slayer T-shirt to school, you had to rock it. You had to be proud to wear it.”

Fehn joined Slipknot in 1998, just before the release of the band’s self-titled debut album in 1999. With some help from a slot on the “Ozzfest” tour that year, Slipknot became a juggernaut in a relatively short time; the band’s self-titled debut went double platinum.

Slipknot’s latest album, “All Hope is Gone,” debuted at No. 1 last year on both Billboard’s Top 200 chart and the European Top 100 Albums chart.

Fehn attributes that success to an incessant touring schedule.

“We worked so hard back in the early days. We toured Europe, we toured everywhere we could. We just kept on going back and going back,” he said. “That’s really what built the following: Doing the work and getting your butt over there and playing shows and bringing up your fan base.”

Not surprisingly, Slipknot is best experienced live (sinister masks and matching jumpsuits don’t translate well on compact disc or MP3), and Fehn said nothing could match the adrenaline pumping through his veins in anticipation of the curtains lifting before 20,000 fans.

“It’s the best drug in the world. It’s great, man; it’s like jumping out of an airplane,” he said. “It’s one of the greatest rushes you can have as a human being, especially when the arena’s sold out. That continually reminds us of why we’re doing this.”

True to their prodigious work ethic, the members of Slipknot will have been on the road for nearly a year straight when the “All Hope is Gone” tour lands in Springfield, to be followed by yet another European tour.

The new album was promoted as the band’s most aggressive to date, and those elements are apparent. But it also contains a few ballad-like tracks; “Dead Memories” for one, showcases lead singer Corey Taylor in what may be his most decipherable lyrics.

Slipknot’s masks have been updated to reflect the new album. And though they might be a little more restrained, they aren’t too far from the originals. Fehn said he’s made slight alterations to his mask, the one with the seven-inch nose that looks like something out of “A Clockwork Orange.”

“We always like to keep it fresh for our fans and for ourselves, too,” he said. “It’s how we’re all going at the time and feeling at the time. It keeps it interesting; it doesn’t get stagnant and boring that way.”

Fehn said Slipknot doesn’t have any plans to return to the studio anytime soon. What with Taylor’s side project Stone Sour and drummer Joey Jordison’s producing responsibilities with other bands, Fehn said Slipknot will begin work on album No. 5 once “those (projects) run their little course.”

Was there a smidgeon of hostility in Fehn’s comments? Slipknot has something of a reputation for that, but Fehn insists everything is copacetic. “We’re really in a good place right now with the band and everything,” he said. “We’re getting along and everybody’s healthy.”

With tickets for Tuesday’s show costing $37.50, Fehn said the band “tries to keep it real” with relatively low prices, at least for a band of Slipknot’s caliber. He’s a good salesman.

“Economically it’s so bad right now, but the show is such a good time, it’s such a good $30 release,” he said. “You can escape for four hours, have a good time and see an amazing show.”

Vintage metal from Canada

When Canada’s 3 Inches of Blood takes the stage, don’t be surprised if a few fans are brandishing both fake and real swords with Viking helmets atop their crowns.

The Vancouver metal sextet opens for labelmate Slipknot on Tuesday at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, along with fellow Roadrunner Records signee DevilDriver.

The swords and helmets are all part of 3 Inches of Blood’s love of mythology. The band’s last two albums were titled “Advance and Vanquish” and “Fire Up the Blades.”

But don’t be confused into thinking 3 Inches of Blood is a novelty act: These guys can shred.

Vocalist Jamie Hooper, who counts Judas Priest and Iron Maiden among his influences, had to go on hiatus in 2007 after his banshee-like screams seriously damaged his throat. Hooper’s co-vocalist, the aptly named Cam Pipes, provides the falsetto-style metal bands of yesteryear were known for.

If it’s nu-metal you’re looking for, 3 Inches of Blood isn’t it. With the help of Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, who produced 2007’s “Fire Up the Blades,” the band successfully captured that 1980s vintage metal sound.

California’s DevilDriver features former Coal Chamber lead singer Dez Fafara on vocals. DevilDriver is intense, though its sound caters more to the mainstream than other metal acts. One of the band’s songs, “Devil’s Son,” was featured in the television show “Scrubs.”

DevilDriver is touring in support of its fourth album, “Pray for the Villains,” which is set for release July 14.

Phil Davidson can be reached through the State Journal-Register Arts & Entertainment desk at (217) 747-9587.

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